Smartphones As "Digital Keys" Coming To Doors Near You : TreeHugger via @TreeHugger

Forbes reports , "HID Global , a California-based division of Sweden's Assa Abloy, is testing software that acts as a digital key when loaded onto a smartphone. The software, which interacts with physical ID card readers via an application or by swiping it near a reader, could eventually replace the plastic badges that millions of people worldwide use to securely enter their offices and other facilities." Starting out at college campuses, the company tested the technology at Arizona State University . Instead of using campus ID cards, students can use cell phones. After a month-long test run, feedback from students is apparently "pretty positive." It could signal yet another way smart phones are helping us dematerialize. From allowing us to replace a pile of various gadgets from radios to calculators to cameras, replacing paper copies of receipts and documents with digital...